ItoBlog

Cartoon frenzy (cont'd)

Jeff Weintraub poses a good question:

Islamist groups in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the government of Iran, have decided to respond to the Danish cartoons by publishing offensive cartoons about the Holocaust. Even when people have criticized these actions, they have tended to pass over one element about them that should strike us as peculiar. When these Islamists are offended by Danish cartoons, they don't respond by publishing anti-Danish, anti-Christian, or anti-western cartoons. They respond by publishing anti-semitic cartoons. Why is that, I wonder?

Quite puzzling indeed. Does someone have a good answer?

In all this cartoon frenzy...

If...surely...

Jose Ramos-Horta, foreign minister of East Timor:

Time and again as I watch the barbarity inflicted on innocent Iraqi civilians, often women and children, pass with seeming silence and indifference from the rest of the world, I ask where are those who are so quick to take to the streets to protest every alleged US sin, be it real or imaginary?

If they are so appalled at the graphic photos showing the depraved acts committed by a small number of American servicemen – photos that, never let it be forgotten, were unearthed as a result of the US Army's own investigation – surely they should be even more appalled by the daily carnage inflicted on the Shiah majority in Iraq.

(Via Norm)

Jose Ramos-Horta, foreign minister of East Timor:

Time and again as I watch the barbarity inflicted on innocent Iraqi civilians, often women and children, pass with seeming silence and indifference from the rest of the world, I ask where are those who are so quick to take to the streets to protest every alleged US sin, be it real or imaginary?

If they are so appalled at the graphic photos showing the depraved acts committed by a small number of American servicemen – photos that, never let it be forgotten, were unearthed as a result of the US Army's own investigation – surely they should be even more appalled by the daily carnage inflicted on the Shiah majority in Iraq.

(Via Norm)

Beat me, I deserve it

Some members of the Ethiopian government are concerned about cultural excuses for the abuse of women:

"Regrettably, a lot of women die during pregnancy. A large number of girls are subjected to harmful traditional practices on the pretext of culture and girls are married too early, without their consent and often to people they do not know,"

The UN also has some appalling statistics on domestic violence.

Domestic violence is so rampant in Ethiopia that nine out of ten women think their husbands are justified in beating them, a UN report released on Wednesday said.

The report, compiled by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said the women believed it was in order to be punished, especially when a wife went out without telling her spouse, neglected the children or prepared food badly. ... The report focuses on the plight of women across the globe. It found that in Egypt, 94 percent of women thought it was acceptable to be beaten, as did 91 percent in Zambia.

(courtesy of DSTPFW)

Gay ads banned in Paris metro

The parisian metro system (RATP) recently decided to ban poster ads for a gay cultural exhibit scheduled to be held next month in Paris. Of course, we see ads of  naked women everywhere, shock photos at every newstand, but men kissing? No way! Gay Pareee not as open to homosexuality as one would think...

Human behaviour

Taken from the Economist...

WHAT'S a girl to do when faced with the choice between a powerful action man who has great DNA but is likely to love her and leave her, and a carpet-and-slippers kind of bloke who will hang around and bring up the kids but may not be Mr Right in the genes department? Well, ideally, she should fool the latter into bringing up the former's children. And a piece of evidence that this is exactly what happens emerged this week from a research group led by Jan Havlicek of Charles University, in Prague.

Basically, the study shows that women tended to be much more aroused by the body odour of "dominant" males (ie. those males who have a tendency to be hard-up, to correct others, to want to control conversations, and to surpass others' accomplishments etc...) but only in special circumstances: a)  the  woman was already in a relationship and b)  she was in the most fertile phase of her menstrual cycle.

In other  words, "dominant" males' odour is more attractive at the point where a woman is both ready to conceive a child and cheat on her man. Which, given the research groups' previous studies that show "dominant" men are indeed more likely than others to leave a woman holding the baby, makes perfect sense.